Our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination... a way of glimpsing what might be the future when there’s still time to influence how that future will play out.

Walker reframes fear not as mere weakness or irrationality but as a creative, anticipatory faculty. In this view, fear is the imagination running simulations: it projects possible outcomes, especially negative ones, and thereby offers a provisional “preview” of the future. The quote suggests that this preview can be useful precisely because it arrives early—while choices remain open—so fear can function as an adaptive warning system that prompts preparation, caution, or moral responsibility. It also implies a link between storytelling and survival: the same imaginative capacity that produces fiction can generate foresight, helping individuals and societies steer away from preventable harm.